SYDNEY UNDERGOING RAPID TRANSFORMATION

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 232, 20 December 1927, Page 13

SYDNEY UNDERGOING RAPID TRANSFORMATION

THE SUN’S SYDNEY LETTEL

FERRIES IN COLLISION GREYCLIFFE INQUIRY TO OPEN THIS WEEK SYDNEY, Dec. 15. Christmas Week will find Sydney undergoing a rapid transformation. A fair percentage of the large stores, hotels, warehouses and other buildings are in the hands of the builder or renovator. This year much Christmas shopping will be done within sound of the whistle of the “dogman” as he soars to dizzy heights at the end of a crane-jib conveying material from the street to the scene of operations nearer the sky. Next Christmas should see much of tho discomforts of the building boom done away with. Ferries Meet Head-on

There was- another ferry thrill last Wednesday night when two steel ferries met head-on at a point between Mosman and Cremorne Wharves. This headland, which carries a white light, juts out sharply, necessitating a quick turn to negotiate it. The route of the Cremorne ferry in question was one which is only followed once a day, and moreover only recently adopted for a theatre boat at 11.15 every night. On this run a Mosman ferry calls at Cremorne, and then swings round Cremorne Point on its way to Mosman. This time, when tho point was taken, another ferry was met speeding on her way to Sydney. The boats bumped head-on and one had her forward bulwarks stove in. But being steel, they stood the knock well. Naturally there was great alarm on board and some women fainted. Nowadays ferry travellers are very nervous. On one boat, when a steamer was overtaking it, an old man went and told the captain there was a steamer astern. Tho captain thanked him, and remarked to me that everyone was acting as lookoLit for him lately. Greycliffe Inquiry

With tho return of the steamer Tahiti from America next week, the inquiry into tho Greycliffe disaster will be reopened and the evidence of Captain Aldwell, tlie chief engineer- and man at the wheel taken while the ship is in port. In case it may be necessary for Captain Aldwell to remain behind, Captain A. Davey, of the Maunganui, will stand by in Sydney, and Captain Martin will take the Maunganui to Auckland this week. Public interest as to what the verdict of tho court will be is still keen. Japanese Bishop for N.Z.

Arriving in Wellington by the Marama this trip will bo Bishop Juji Nakada, of Japan, who is the head of the Christian Church in that country. He is visiting New Zealand at the invitation of Ratana and other Maoris who were the bishop’s guests during their visit to Japan some months ago. Bishop Nakada is a smiling little man with a keen sense of humour. When he was asked whether he believed there was any connection racially between the Maoris and Japanese, he said, “The Maoris think so, and their name, o.r a name sounding like it, means in Japanese ‘the sons of Heaven,’ but I don’t know if their claim is right.” After attending a big meeting of Maoris, Bishop Nakada will travel through tho Dominion, which, no doubt, he will find to resemble the land of his birth psysically. In 10 years' the bishop has built up a Christian church in Japan, -where Christianity is preached in 160 churches. The largest of these is his own church at Tokyo which was recently completed. Motorists on Lonely Roads

Motorists in Australia are becoming chary of driving alone on lonely roads, or even on main roads with stretches of bush alongside them. Recently while going to Tvatoomba a driver was stopped by a man who stood in the middle of the road and waved his arms. Approaching the car ho said, “I’m going to Bathurst and I’ll ride with you as far as you are going.” The driver was not as big a man as the tramp; so he let him stay in tlie car. But at the first hotel, he pulled up, saying, “I’m not going any further.” “Thanks, old man,” said the tramp, and forthwith he stepped out into the road and stopped another car, which he boarded in the same way. Another case was that of a man who was asked for a ride when his car was standing by the roadside. On his declining, the tramp asked for money. This, too, was refused, when he produced a razor and said, “Well, can I sell you a razor.” The motorist did not wait any longer. The razor gangs have been too prominent in certain parts lately to cause him to feel at home with his roadside acquaintance. Railway Fares for 1928

A bold step has been taken by the Bavin Government in not increasing the first-class fares on the railways from the beginning of 1928. All second-class rates are Jo rise. then. At first sight it looks like an act of Toryism. But the simple fact is that if the first-class rates are raised, people will travel second-class, and already the “seconds” are packed and the firsts half-empty even at rush hours. But, of course, this aspect of

the matter does not suggest itself to the majority who are cursing the hew Government for its cruelty to the working classes. It is unfortunate that fares have to be raised at all, for the railways are actually paying if they could be detached from the mass of short tram lines and other kindred lines which are linked under the same management. WILL LAWSON.